What are the Common Types of Commercial Construction Projects?

What are the Common Types of Commercial Construction Projects?

Commercial construction projects are typically represented by offices, shopping malls, hotels, educational institutions, industrial buildings, and warehouses, among others. These projects are usually vast in their scope and cost and involve a multitude of players. Any commercial construction process is overseen by commercial general contractors who have the expertise and experience in building such properties. Even though general contractors may build properties for both residential and commercial purposes, it is better to hire those providing commercial construction services only. Importantly, some construction services only cater to a specific industry segment, which means before hiring any such services, it is better to know the type of industry or segment they cater to.

What are the levels of commercial construction?

Commercial contractors provide services for various levels of construction and based on the quote, the scale and level of the project are defined. As such any commercial construction project can be generally categorized into three levels – small scale, medium scale, and large scale. Consequently, the commercial builder you will need will also change with the scale of the project. Let us understand them in some detail. You may read our detailed resource on commercial construction and learn about its various aspects.

Small Scale: As the name suggests, any small-scale commercial contracting deals with less-costly projects that requires less capital investment and a shorter construction time. These may include building or repairing small commercial structures such as offices build-outs, strip center

facades, restaurants, apartment rehabs, etc. Also, if you are looking for rebranding or expanding your existing property, then small-scale commercial construction is the way to go.

Medium Scale: These are for commercial properties that may be new construction of less than 10,000 sf or a project that needs change in use, complete remodeling, or redesigning. These are higher in cost than small-scale projects and are more time-consuming. Examples of these projects would new apartment buildings, a ground up commercial strip center or maybe a major change in use such as converting an old hotel into executive offices.

Large Scale: This level of construction is for projects that need multiple levels of onsite supervision like larger ground up projects that typically cost $10M or more. These may include building a big office complex, shopping malls, medical infrastructure, educational institutes, industrial buildings, and others. The entire commercial construction process entails a lot of investments, time, and effort, and the use of heavy equipment and machinery. It may involve the demolition of an existing old structure and building a new one. These large-scale projects require the general contractors to know about specialty foundation systems and safety codes. You may read our blog on general contractors for commercial contracting in Houston.

What are the types of commercial construction projects?

There are different types of commercial construction projects depending on the sector, requirements, and clientele. Even though certain aspects of commercial contracting cut across sectors might be similar, it is important to know how they differ or what does construction for a specific sector entail. This is where hiring experienced commercial construction services catering to the specific sector only can be very helpful. This is because the contractors building or remodeling properties for a particular sector would know the kind of building and zoning laws, and other requirements. This will prevent the project from getting caught in a situation due to a lack of information on the part of the commercial builders.

Grocery and big box stores: The cost of the structural shell and building marque plays an important role in this type of construction given that such stores are likely to be frequented by customers. These types of businesses sell volumes of lower cost merchandise. They require a low-cost structure that has have large areas to shelf goods for sale. So, both exterior and interior should be large spaces and facilitate a more fluid movement of people and goods displayed. However, adhering to the building, zoning and fire codes are important.

Restaurants: In this type of construction, the focus should be more on providing customer comfort and an efficient working commercial kitchen. The buildings should conform to the guidelines laid down by the corporation. Importantly, given the restaurant will have a kitchen area, understanding and adhering to the local regulations for occupancy, fire safety, ADA accessibility and parking should be ensured.

Hotels and motels: Focusing on the hospitality sector, the construction approach is towards providing comfort, ease of access, and privacy for guests. Here, the type and scale of construction can vary a lot from small to large. For instance, some motels can look simple while other luxury hotels can be quite large with lots of architectural features inside. Just think of any luxury hotel and you can understand the scale and complexity of building one.

Also, with tranquility being one of the requirements for such hotels, construction companies often have to use technologies for soundproofing, full service kitchens, banquet facilities and parking significant for temporary event guest. You may view our video to know the type of questions to be asked to any commercial general contractor before hiring.

Office buildings: The scale of such buildings can range from providing a few functional facilities to building skyscrapers. The equipment for such buildings needs to be top-notch and the construction project would involve experts from multiple disciplines. Think of gigantic cranes, bulldozers, excavators, temporary construction elevators, and others, and the complexity and scale of the project become evident. Developing such buildings requires a team of designers, engineers to create the construction documents and a large commercial construction company to orchestrate the construction activities.

Industrial buildings: Such buildings can differ from office buildings in terms of higher ceilings, large storage areas, outlets to dissipate heat, and safe electrical installations, among others. Industrial buildings can include warehouses to store machines, equipment, or other inventories. Industrial buildings can be classified as light industrial such as warehouses or heavy industrial for manufacturing.

Although these are often large physical scale projects, they are far different in their construction sophistication.

Medical facilities:

Commercial contracting a medical facility such as a hospital can be a herculean task given the many departments and their specific requirements to be met. Care should be taken to facilitate the smooth movement of people and equipment (read stretchers, wheelchairs, oxygen cylinders, and others) inside the premises. Also, proper HVAC systems should be installed so that advanced diagnosis solutions such as CT-Scans, MRI, and others can be housed in a sanitized and sound-proof environment.

Educational institutions: Building educational institutions, namely, schools, colleges, or universities can be a challenge in itself given the many criteria to adhere to, including the building and zoning laws. Think of building large classrooms with high ceilings, auditoriums, eateries, laboratories, libraries, chambers of teachers, professors, principals, and others. Like medical facilities, educational institutions should facilitate the fluid movement of students.

Stadiums: Building a stadium that can accommodate thousands of people is not just an arduous task but enjoins upon the commercial contractors to follow all precautions and regulatory standards to the T. Starting from ensuring structural safety of the stadium from low-intensity earthquakes to protecting the structure from high wind shear during a storm, a modern stadium needs to be structurally sound and house state-of-the-art facilities for the public, journalists (print and electronic) and sportspersons. The scale of construction would necessitate the use of heavy lifting cranes that are part of the set of equipment used to set precast structures as well as place concrete.

The success of such a construction would depend on the team of contractors administering proper project management. For instance, consider Marwood Construction as a company that oversees project management in Houston from the micro to the macro level of every project undertaken. Think of the huge Olympic or soccer stadia and you would appreciate the need for selecting contractors who are experts in this niche. You may read a blog to know more about the common types of commercial construction projects.

What are the sectors of commercial construction?

Continuing from the above-mentioned segment, the heavy commercial construction sectors can be categorized as per the below-mentioned segments: 

Institutional representing educational institutions, medical and government buildings

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Industrial associated with manufacturing and warehousing facilities

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Skyscrapers housing offices or other commercial establishments

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Heavy commercial associated with civil jobs, namely, highways, utility infrastructure, bridges, and others

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Remodeling and renovation

Conclusion Commercial construction can be of various types and levels depending on the sectors they belong to. So, hiring the right commercial contractors offering commercial construction services should involve conducting proper due diligence about their experience and expertise in the sector. Engaging the right commercial general contractors can relieve you of any stress of managing the project, for commercial builders shall execute every activity associated with the project, right from its inception to completion.

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